Not The One - part 13
By Dru



The council had not expected to see Susan again so soon. They had fallen from
grace among their people, and were engaged in political discussion.
Replacements, ready and waiting as they were, had already filled the chairs
that Susan had emptied. The new recruits were a great help, having just
recently been the enemy they knew a great deal about long term plans being put
in the works by ambitious individuals.

"We have little to worry about. The people already see us as standing between
them and the ring."

"Let us encourage this believe...but alter it a little. Now we protect them."

"Now we are all that stands between the people and the ring-bearer."

"But what would you do?" a new, horribly familiar voice interrupted their
0brain-storming, and the whole twelve quivered.

"You..."

Susan hovered near the gathering, looking at the new faces. "Listen up you
assholes. I want to know how many messages you sent through the black-holes."

"We would tell you, but the man who did that is dead."

"You killed him," another added.

Susan cursed as she realised it must have been one the councillors whose mind
she hadn't squeezed for knowledge.

"It doesn't matter though. The more the merrier, I always say..." Showing them
Kryall's addition to her finger jewellery, Susan did a back-flip and stretched
as she lifted away from them, the pure energy surging within her making her
eyes glow. Leaving them to their petty problems, Susan left their atmosphere
without getting any of the information she had wanted.

So powerful now that she could travel at the speed of thought, Susan chose to
glide smoothly through the universe and explore a bit. A lot was going through
her mind as she passed through galaxy after galaxy. She had learned a good
lesson from Kryall. His use of the power had destroyed the beauty of his
civilisation, and his mind. She didn't want that to happen with her.

Approaching the brightest star she had seen in all of the galaxies she had
been through, Susan filled herself with abundant strength until her muscles
were a thousand times harder than diamond. Going closer to the star, she was
cautious. The heat must have been tremendous, she decided, but as the violent
churning flames produced a huge flare the column of white fire that consumed
her left her hair unsinged. Even the tiny outfit she had made survived the
blast of heat. Entering the star, Susan wafted through the fireball and bathed
in the warmth for a while, reducing her power level until the incinerating
gases comfortably warmed her flesh . Adjusting her eyes so she could see
through the flames, Susan headed out into the void to find that universe where
she had been so rudely interrupted. If there were any ringbearers around, then
she would soon know. Until then, she would have some fun.

Flying clear past Cherone and Kryall's new home in the void, Susan smiled at
the pair. Cherone had scared the beetles away, but not before they had eaten
most of Kryall. He lived, and Susan assumed he would for centuries. She was
curious to know whether his body would grow back, and decided to call back in
a few years to see if had.

The battle in the uncharted universe was over now, so Susan went past the
victorious imperial battle cruisers and travelled deeper until she spotted a
ship down on a planet. This planet was teeming with life, and Susan's eyes
could penetrate the foliage of the abundant trees and see the crew herding a
lot of people toward the ship.

Flying around the planet a bit, Susan streaked into the atmosphere a safe
distance away so they were still off guard when she arrived.

Studying the clothes of the captives, Susan copied the style, changing her
outfit with a bit of concentration and a blink. Letting gravity take a little
of her weight as she settled, Susan waited for the slavers. She was surprised
how close they got before they saw her.

"Hey! Get that one."

A few guards moved toward, and Susan allowed them to herd her into the crowd.
The slavers had only gathered up the village women. A little probing revealed
to Susan that the males had all been slaughtered. Only the very old and the
very young were left behind in the village. Remembering how Kryall had charged
up his guards, Susan got an idea.

"Hey, boss-man!" Susan called out, surprising the 'civilised' imperials with
her use of their language. "Don't you know anything about these people?"

"Silence her!"

Susan took a rifle butt in the gut, and smiled at the surprised look on the
guards face. "You don't want to do that," she told her assailant coldly. But
he continued to bring his second hit through to her cheekbone. Unfazed and
unmoved by either cruelly delivered blow, Susan looked him in the eye.

Unable to break from her gaze, the guard was suddenly aware how intelligent
she looked. Then he noticed how attractive her body was, and could not look
away. A corner of her mouth turned, then everything went black.

Susan looked at herself through the guards eyes, his mind unable to fight
against her overwhelming power. She had driven him into a corner of his head
and taken the wheel. In this body she got a great sense of weakness, the
movements he made were very slow, just like the guy Kryall's palace. Getting
his finger to the trigger of his rifle, she made him shoot his boss. Her next
target was the guy with the radio. Then Susan started popping them off one at
a time until a hail of bullets devastated the doomed slaver. Looking at them
through her own eyes again she laughed.

"Take a good look at these women, assholes. They're going to bring down your
empire." Closing her eyes, Susan set up a series of links using all the energy
in Kryall's ring to change the women crowded around her into indestructible
super-beings. Slowly their muscles filled out and condensed as the power
flowed into their bodies, their traditional clothes torn as the abundant
strength each one possessed became painfully evident. There were startled
cries, and confused babbling from the captives. Susan learned their language
in two beats of her heart and spoke to them.

"I am you new leader. I have made you unstoppable, for the purpose of
destroying the Empire."

Not wanting the crowd to get focused, the guards started shooting randomly
with their tranquilliser guns, but the needle pointed projectiles were
shattered on the impervious flesh she possessed. The crowd stood unharmed,
checking themselves in amazement.

After firing a few more random shots the slavers ran for the ship, though none
of them made it. Susan's little army was much faster than the equipment-laden
slavers. The fight was short. The men disintegrated in the struggle, their
useless weapons blasting away pathetically as they were wiped out by the
unarmed women. With limbs and blood littering the ground around them, the
women stood in awe of their own physical power, some of them experimenting on
any nearby tree or rock.

Smiling, Susan led them to the ship.

In a distant corner of her universe, a new challenger came bursting though a
swirling black-hole, and headed straight to the home of the Twelve. This
particular ring-bearer was unlike the others that had come before him. He came
to help the council, and not for his own benefit.

He found them as the vague message had directed, and entered the galaxy at a
safe speed to finally land in the remains of the chamber.

"I see your problems have complicated since your message."

The councillors looked around, uncertain of this newcomer. He wore no ring.

"And who are you?"

"I am Rrygar. I answer your call for help. Where is the renegade now?"

The councillors looked at each other with hope. Could this be the answer to
their problems?

"We don't know. She has complete command of the ring now."

"Are you a ring-bearer?" the leader of the council asked. "I see no ring on
your finger."

The strange man smiled, holding out his open palm. "I am a ring-bearer. It's
metal flows through my veins and rests in my cells." A flame jumped into life
just above his skin. "I will find the Unchosen, and return the ring to you."